Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stake Lifted by Axa S.A.

AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 89.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,202 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 29,420 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $5,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Crown Castle by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 400 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of CCI traded up $1.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $105.00. 3,043,439 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,874,552. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $45.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.23 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.86.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.96%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -58.18%.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service - bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.